STRUCTURE. FOOD. AND HABITS. 15 



September tlie young plieasants still kept witK their respective 

 coveys of partridges." Sometimes the hen pheasant, and 

 not the partridge, is the foster parent. In the neighbour- 

 hood of Chcsham, on May Q, 1873, three pheasants' nests 

 were observed to contain the following eggs : — the first, on 

 which the hen was sitting, twenty-two pheasant's and two 

 French partridge's eggs ; the second, eleven pheasant's and 

 five French partridge's eggs; and the third, six pheasant's 

 and seven French partridge's eggs. Mr. W. D. Collins, of 

 Cuckfield, records the fact that he found a grey partridge 

 sitting on twelve of her own eggs, nine eggs of the red-legged 

 partridge, and nine pheasant's eggs, all the three species 

 having layed in the same nest. Mr. Higgins, of Hambledon, 

 states that " A pheasant hatched out, in a piece of vetches of 

 mine, seven partridges and five pheasants on July 6th. She 

 sat on nine of her own eggs and eight partridge eggs." In 

 some cases the nest is even of a more composite character, 

 and the eggs of the common fowl, and those of partridges 

 and pheasants, have all been found together ; and instances 

 have been recorded of wild hen pheasants laying in the nests 

 of tame and also of wild ducks, and in the nest of the corn- 

 crake. 



Although there is usually some attempt at concealment 

 Tinder covert, pheasants' nests are not unfrequently placed, 

 even by perfectly wild birds, in very exposed situations. Mr. 

 John Walton, of Sholton Hall, Durham, related the following 

 account of the singular tameness of a wild-bred bird : " A 

 hen pheasant — a perfectly wild one so far as rearing is con- 

 cerned, for we have no artificial processes here — selected as the 

 site for her nest a hedge by a private cart road, where she was 

 exposed to the constant traffic of carts, farm servants, and 

 others, passing and repassing her quarters, all of which she 

 took with infinite composure. She was ver}' soon discovered 

 on her nest, and actually suffered herself when sitting to be 

 stroked down her plumage by the children and others who 

 ■visited her, and this without budging an inch. In fact, she 



